Press releases from some of the MotoGP teams after the first day of testing at Valencia:

Movistar Yamaha Find Mojo on First Valencia Test Day

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team successfully completed the first day of the Valencia MotoGP Official Test at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, testing various bike chassis and set-up options. Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi had positive feelings after the progress they made today and set the first and fourth fastest time respectively.

The first day of 2018 raised more questions than answers. Two days after not featuring at all in the race, the Movistar Yamaha riders finished first and fourth. A satellite Ducati – Jack Miller, on his first outing on the bike – was quicker than the factory riders. The only constants were Marc Márquez and Johann Zarco, who finished in exactly the same positions as they did on Sunday.

Confusion reigns at Yamaha, as they search for the cure to the problems which plagued them all through 2017. There were four bikes in Maverick Viñales' garage, three in Valentino Rossi's garage, and two different ones in Johann Zarco's pit box. They were testing all sorts of combinations of machinery: a 2016 bike with 2017 engine, and a full 2017 bike for Maverick Viñales; a 2016 bike with 2017 engine, a full 2017 bike, and a 2017 bike with a 2018 engine for Valentino Rossi; and a 2016 bike and a full 2017 bike for Johann Zarco.

The results? Pretty much identical, no matter what bike the riders were on. Viñales and Rossi were fastest on the 2016 bike, Zarco was fastest on the 2017 bike, and Rossi managed to throw the 2018-engined bike up the road after just two laps. The crash looked huge, but Rossi came away relatively unscathed.

Maverick Viñales has topped the first day of testing at Valencia, just as he did a year ago. The Movistar Yamaha man was two tenths quicker than the Frenchman Johann Zarco on the 2017 Yamaha, and three tenths quicker than newly-crowned 2017 MotoGP champion Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda.

With a morning of testing the Octo Pramac Ducati GP17 under his belt, Jack Miller spoke to the media to give his first impressions. The Australian was happy, especially given how fast he has been so far: Miller is just two tenths slower around Valencia on the Ducati after 40 laps than his fastest lap on a Honda.

Here is what Miller had to say:

Question:How has it been so far?

Jack Miller: A lot of fun so far. Really enjoying my time with the team, not only on the bike but also with the crew and the staff I have here. It's exciting times for me in my career at the moment, and I'm really looking forward to spending more time and more laps on the bike. I'm just starting to get comfortable with it now. I'm really enjoying riding it, so we will see what this afternoon will bring. But the way that I've adjusted to the bike directly and the way I feel on the bike, I'm really comfortable on it, so it just needs more laps and more time to keep going.

Testing is still in full swing at Valencia, though the teams are having a bit of a break for lunch. Marc Marquez is still fastest, though Aleix Espargaro has closed the gap on the Aprilia, just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. Maverick Viñales is half a second slower.

Testing is still in full swing at Valencia, though the teams are having a bit of a break for lunch. Marc Marquez is still fastest, though Aleix Espargaro has closed the gap on the Aprilia, just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. Maverick Viñales is half a second slower.

Press releases from the Moto2 and Moto3 teams after the final round of the season:

MARTIN WRAPS UP 2017 IN STYLE WITH MAIDEN WIN AT VALENCIA

After nine pole position and eight podium finishes, Jorge Martin took a well-deserved maiden Moto3 World Championship win today after a superb performance at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit – the track which hosted this weekend the season finale of MotoGP.

The 2018 season is officially underway at a sunny but very cold Valencia, riders waiting for a while before taking to the track en masse. The newcomers were among the first to get out and ride, but they were soon joined by most of the regulars.

Marc Marquez was the fastest man at noon, half a second quicker than Johann Zarco, while Maverick Viñales was third quickest, ahead of Pol Espargaro on the KTM. Marquez started his 2018 season off in the same style as he ended 2017, with a massive front end save that would have seen anyone else end up in the gravel. Tito Rabat was the first rider to crash, putting his Avintia Ducati into the gravel trap, but his crash was only minor compared to Valentino Rossi's, the Movistar Yamaha rider completely destroying the bike he was on at Turn 10, though he came away relatively unscathed.

In a shock development, Repsol Honda team principal Livio Suppo is to leave HRC at the end of this season. The Italian still had a year on his contract, but decided to leave early. Neither his future destination nor his replacement are known at the moment.

The HRC press release appears below:

Livio Suppo to leave HRC following 2017 MotoGP season

Honda Racing Corporation wishes to announce that Livio Suppo has decided to move on from his role as Repsol Honda’s Team Principal and leave the Company.

In a season which has been rammed to the rafters with drama, it is entirely appropriate that the final round of the year should be just as dramatic. It was partly to be expected, of course, with a championship at stake. Sure, Marc Márquez entered the weekend with a nigh insurmountable 21-point lead. But he still had to finish at least eleventh or else hope that Andrea Dovizioso did not win the race.

Things were looking good after qualifying: Márquez would be starting from pole, while Dovizioso would have to line up on the third row of the grid. Between the two, a host of fast rivals capable of getting in the way of Dovizioso's charge to the front, and perhaps even depriving him of the race win by taking victory in their own right.

By the time the checkered flag fell at the end of the race, enough had happened to fill a Greek epic. Team orders and betrayal, crashes and near crashes, deceit and disguise, secret swapping of bikes, and a bunch or people finishing much higher than any had a right to expect. An intriguing winner, a rider deprived of victory, and at last, a champion crowned. If the 17 races before Valencia had generated plenty to talk about, the final race of the year topped it all.